Playing Doctor

Unbread

Supermarket brand standard loaves of bread, the $2 a loaf sort. In the US this is known Packaged Bread. I am not sure it is really bread anymore. Sure it is loafy, has a mild crust, and appears to be based upon wheat, water, and yeast but it has a noticeably sweet flavour, or it used to, I can't tell anymore. More distrubingly it never goes stale, ever. If you hold onto it for a while though (purely for scientfic curiousity, I assure you) it does eventually sport some mould growth, maybe after around two months. It doesn't really bear thinking about at length.

Craft Brew Fest, Naugatuck CT

Over 40 breweries, with more than 150 brews, several hundred people, in three and a half hours on one lightly rainy afternoon. A determined team of four New Haven residents set out to sample, compare, and critique. It was bliss.

There were some definite stand outs. Otter creek's Imperial IPA and Imperial Stout, Brookyln Breweries' Local #2 (and perhaps coffee stout). Sam Adams had an expectedly competent showing as well (again with stout, and a double bock that rubbed me the right way). Farmington River had some interesting brews too their blonde did not taste like a blonde, but was still fine; Their mahogany was interesting as well. A seemingly curious approach to hopping was employed.

At the other end of olfaction's limits lurked Magic Hat's Wacko. Beets in the brew? Sure why not? but it only resulted in a pink colour and very little flavour. Summer brews are apparently an invitation to do something crazy. There is novelty there but it wears off quickly and if not iterated each season they become uninteresting. I won't be back for any of last year's range and these new attempts are merely dull. Anything from SBC (too sweet stout or too bland and oddly grassy attempt at brown ale).

The serious tasting became quite difficult but not completely impossible after a while. It was clear that this event did not encourage, not had even considered that people might sample and spit. So opinions may vary down the line.

The real tragedy is that East Rock liquor outlets seems to be unawares of all of this finery. Perhaps an arrangement can be met with the breweries directly?

In addition to the wide range of beers on offer, I staunched the alcohol's march to my frontal lobes with a pulled pork sandwich, a cheeseburger and a steak tip sandwich in addition to a many bottles of water. It was definitely meat day.

Somehow after all this we managed a short trip to Delany's Tap Room where we were somehow able to eat and drink yet more! For me, dinner was a Reuben sandwich paired with a Lagunitas Hop Stoopid Imperial IPA.

A co-attending friend had manage to win the biggest prize in the raffle ticket draw that afternoon. This included many large sized brewery company t-shirts and the odd pint glass. What a great day out.

Metamorphosis

I can no longer stomach the idea of ramen and eggs. Previously what was a cheap and reasonably nutritious 'meal' has become merely a provocation of nausea. I wonder if it is the imminent onset of employment: a primal call to the pupa of writing in which the mucilaginous larval PhD candidate undergoes a hideous metamorphosis in to the relatively less gruesome postdoc. It appears that the drastic transformation effected during this process results in the loss of the relevant mouth parts to consume what was previously considered food.

A convenient dessert

I needed a new container for the truffle oil. It seems rather difficult to purchase a 30 ml resealable bottle (plastic or glass) in this town. On having that thought, I realised the ideal container: a miniature liqueur bottle. On examining the selection available at the Supabarn I thought Grand Marnier looked likely. What to do with the Grand Marnier itself then? On the way out of the 'barn I grabbed a pack of gingernuts and 300 ml of cream then headed home directly.

The Indolent Scholar:

Whip the cream. I added a bit of icing sugar and some vanilla essence, but they are entirely optional. Put the Grand Marnier in a flat bottomed small bowl. Dip both sides of a gingernut in the liqueur then spread cream thickly on one side of the biscuit. Place that biscuit on a long plate. Then repeat. Build up a log of alternating biscuit and cream. The first gingernut plus cream won't stand on it's side on it's own so put it biscuit side down until the second one arrives. There will be should be some remaining cream so cover the whole log with it. Then leave it in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, it really depends on how much liqueur you were able to get the gingernuts to soak up. During this time the biscuits will go really soft, that's what you want.

The result is an incredibly rich dessert that is ideal in small portions. You will definitely notice the liqueur. The best part is no cooking, and only a small amount of preparation. The hardest part is waiting.

The antigourmet saboteurs

My house mates are plotting against my gourmet aspirations. I was given a bottle of French black truffle oil for christmas last year. It sat in my cupboard since then, waiting, lurking, for an opportunity to assault my taste buds. But the time and media had to be correct for it's translation from bottle to gut.

Reconsidering an omniverous lifestyle

I've been not a vegetarian for some time now. It's been very tasty thank you. I was recently directed to this story in rolling stone by Patrick. It put a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. The state of pork production in the US and presumably elsewhere is pretty shocking. The story doesn't really focus on the treatment of the pigs themselves which is typically barbarous. Instead, it highlights the extreme environmental cost of the process. It's mind blowing how bad and simultaneously revolting it is. Here is a taster of the content: Killer shit lagoons. Yes, a picture of said lagoon can be found here.

Café Français

I received some coffee from France over Christmas. Initially I have to admit that I was unimpressed despite the gift being entirely appropriate and being superlatively labeled: Suprêmo d Arabica grand cru d'exception. (by Malongo)

However, I have recently started on the gear and it is utterly fantastic. It made me think of Fruit Chan's Dumplings for some reason. Here is this hard to get expensive stuff that you just have to have more of.

I guess coffee isn't as morally ambigious as those particular dumplings, at least not always. This new gear comes at a good time since it turns out Lavazza uses beans that are grown illegally on protected land in Indonesia further threatening endangered species, no more of that for me.

Si Chuanese

I went to a Si Chuanese restaurant called Four Rivers this evening with a good friend. (The closest thing to a website is here.) It was utterly fantastic. Boiled dumplings to start with a fantastic sauce. It reminded me of the sauce I made for my spinach dumplings but this one had sesame and shallots going on which was just awesome. Then followed: A beef hot pot, Double cooked pork, and an egg plant dish (literally translated as fish smelling eggplant, but really nothing of the sort). The Tsingtao accompanied along with some tea.

All the food was great. The eggplant was really made by the sauce that was strangely reminiscent of the BBQ flavouring you might get in a pack of crisps. The double cooked pork was probably so good because of the crispish finish from the cooking and the finely sliced strips still had all the fat attached. For me the best dish was certainly the beef hot pot. A very spicy broth with beef and greens. The somehow still crisp greens were an excellent textural contrast to the soft velvety beef.

To finish the traditional deep fried ice-cream. My friend has a weakness for that dish so I joined in, but I have yet to really enjoy that particular, regretfully ubiquitous, culinary abortion.

This restaurant is highly recommended.

Vegetable re-education

Some brussel sprouts were civilised into Cream of Brussel Sprout soup. I usually do not favour brussel sprouts. In this soup (where admittedly, butter, chicken stock, and cream are involved) however they are sublime. With the addition of some crusty bread which has been rubbed up against some Lebnah it is even better. The best thing about the recipe I used was that it was simple. Not like this one, but close in the final presentation. The addition of potatoes seems worth a look in.

Food purgatory

Two Sundays back now I cooked up about seven litres of curry. I do this from time to time. This was to be my food for a week. Cut down on prep time during the week, eat sensibly and get more done. A vegetable curry has to be the definition of eating sensibly: Super tasty and complex flavours with astronomical nutritional value.

This time instead of a tomato based homestyle curry (a bit boring), I tried a Goanese vegetable curry. This has a coconut base, instead of a tomato base. A nice change. Making the sauce was a bit different for me, frying dessicated coconut, then adding it to a blender with onion, 10cm worth of large cinnamon quill plus whole fried black peppercorns and a fair bit of water. The blender dealt with the cinnamon bark admirably. That heady mix (nearly fainted after catching an aerosol of that blend!) gets added to the browned onions later followed by addition of a large variety of root vegetables and green beans with water to cover, and simmered for a bit. This time the vegetables were cooked in order of cooking time so things were appropriately cooked, not all equally overcooked.

That week was ten meals of curry. Five days of curry for lunch, curry for dinner. I did have rice with it now and then. Also, microwave pappadams (great invention, a bit smelly to cook up though), and a twist of lemon went really well.

I didn't become bored with it either, as with the homestyle tomato base vegetable curry. Once you go Goanese, you never go back?